Husband and Wife
by DearBeliever
Summary: Imaginings of a random day in the lives of Anna and John... Alternate S4 world. I always wanted to see them walking to/from work together and so it started. (I own nothing etc.)


**Random fluff from my own version of S4.**

On serene nights such as these, they did not feel the need to hurry back to the cottage. Instead, they savoured the walk home in the darkness, alone under the casual gaze of the stars. Free to link hands, to press weary bodies together and to talk mindlessly about the day's events.

"Say what you will, Mr Bates. I think there is _something _ there. A connection…"

John let out a soft laugh. "Ever the romantic, my love." He always enjoyed that despite her demanding list of duties, Anna took in everything around her, always noting shifts in relationships and behaviour.

"And is that such a bad thing? To be a romantic?" She bumped into him playfully, tightening her hand around his. "You never seem to mind when I'm in a romantic mood."

He let his hand fall from her shoulder to the gentle curve of her hip and splayed his fingers, pulling her firmly to his side. "Indeed, I do not."

Anna's heart jumped a little. Feeling familiar stirrings, she looked up at her husband. His gaze was trained on the horizon, his green eyes picking up a glinting sheen from the moon. "Miss Baxter could do a lot worse than a kind and considerate man such as Mr Molesley," she continued. "That is all I'm saying."

John raised an eyebrow, taking in his wife's indignant expression.

"Hmm…" John lifted his chin as they continued their meandering pace. Anna regarded his thoughtful expression again. She found his tendency internalise things both maddening and alluring in equal measure. Never one to spout forth with a knee-jerk reaction or opinion, she often found herself hanging on John's every word, regarding his face carefully as his reactions played out in the quirk of a lip or in the narrowing of his eyes. In this instance, she thought that she could identify a tinge of amusement in his face. Yes, there it was again, he was trying to subdue a smile.

"John Bates, say your piece." Anna rubbed his back firmly, trying to coax him. How she longed to slide her hand beneath his thick woollen coat to feel the contours of his back, the shift in muscle.

"Careful there." He gripped her elbow firmly, steering Anna around a muddy piece of ground on the path. Her gaze had still not left his. He could read her like a book, could sense her growing frustration, yet she still found herself struck by her own inability to decipher what was going on in his head in any given moment.

"Well, I find your loyalty to our friend, Mr Molesley _very_ touching," he offered, then shot her a sideways glance, his left eye crinkling warmly. Usually Anna was the one to mock him good-naturedly, to tease him over his earnest nature, but now and again he enjoyed turning the tables.

"Well, yes…" Anna began, confusion evident in her voice. "He's a good man and has always been very kind to us."

"I tend to think that he prefers you to me, Anna."

"Well, perhaps… Probably because you do little to indulge him. You know how he likes to make idle conversation."

"Or," her husband interrupted, "It is because you are a fair and charming creature and Mr Molesley has had a place in his heart for you since the day he first met you."

"Be quiet, you silly beggar," Anna retorted, swatting him on the arm. Slowly her quiet chuckles died out in favour of contemplative silence. She gripped John's arm tightly and saught out his heat against the cold breeze that appeared as the climbed the final hill.

Finally, their modest cottage appeared as they reached the crest. Anna and John walked in silence for a short time before Anna spoke again.

"You really believe that he holds a torch for me, still?" Her voice was small and sincere and John did not have the heart to continue with his silly game.

"He would do anything for you, Anna… And fortunately for you, so would I." He held that glint in his eye that Anna so loved. The gaze that told her just how much he needed her, desired her, appreciated her.

"But yes," he continued, "I will agree with you, if only to draw us away from the subject, that they do appear to have a special friendship. They both deserve that kind of companionship."

"Now, was that so hard, Mr Bates?" Anna allowed her husband to open the door and enter the parlour first. As John illuminated the room in pale, flickering light, Anna's words became more playful. She removed her hat and coat and undid two buttons near the top of her dress. "And so… you said that you would do anything for me?"

"I am ever willing to do your bidding," John smiled over his shoulder, then continued his path towards the fire.

"Anything…"Anna mused. She toyed with the hairs that had fallen from the loose knot at the back of her head. Regarding his crouching figure, his jacket now discarded as he began rolling up a sleeve, she felt herself flush.

Upon noting her abandoned sentence, John turned. "Anna?"

"Yes, my love." She did not continue immediately, instead holding his gaze confidently, sending him a silent message that lighting the fire in the parlour was not a priority. He slowly stood to his full height, the cane abandoned on the floor. She loved the contradiction of how a man who had been so badly affected by an injury could still hold himself with such grace and move with such fluidity. His long legs and strong shoulders had always been sources of fascination to Anna.

For his part, John could not fathom how a woman of such beauty could desire him so much. How had he been so lucky as to attain the love of an intelligent, brave and compassionate woman who was also beautifully forthright about initiating the physical side of their marriage?

"I think I'd like you to demonstrate the 'anything' of which you spoke of earlier. _Now_, if you have the time, Mr Bates." Anna bit her lip playfully as she began to walk backwards towards the narrow opening to the staircase.

John ran a hand though his hair and felt himself twitch. He immediately followed her, taking slow and purposeful steps. "I am rather tired, darling, but I think I have enough energy for a 'something.' I am not so sure about 'anything.'"

Anna giggled, pressing a hand to her mouth. Her feet had found the stairs now and she tackled them with her eyes still focused on his. Slowly she held out her hand to him, savouring the manner in which his hand engulfed hers, his thumb playing over her digits.

A moment later she fell backwards onto the immaculately arranged bed, bringing him down on top of her. They rested momentarily, Anna talking in the delicious weight of her husband above her. She ran her hands up and down his flanks, allowing them to skim across his rear end.

He chuckled and pressed himself against her. "You really are feeling rather hot and bothered tonight, aren't you?"

"Well, it's not my fault that my husband is such a mysteriously intoxicating creature," Anna pouted.

"Hardly," he snorted. "But I'll play along. And.." he continued, placing firm kisses to her neck, "just what is it that I can do for you, my love?"

"I want you to make love to me right now. Make love to me and kiss me until I can no longer think of anything else. I need you." Anna was amazed at her own reactions. She always desired her husband, but there had been few times when her longing for him had felt as maddeningly insatiable as it did in this instant. Was it their earlier discussions? Was she reminded about how life could have been without him? With another?

John's hands scrambled at the buttons of her dress, eager to give her what she wanted.

His wife's hands stopped him immediately. "No, John, make love to me now, as we are. I need you." Anna pulled her dress and petticoat up and hooked a leg over his hip. The dumbfounded look on his face was a picture but she took no amusement from it, instead she found herself soley focused on his body heat and the tongue that darted out to wet his lip.

John's mouth met hers in earnest and, all the while, the hand that was not gripping her hair so wonderfully tightly, was focused on pushing aside clothing and freeing himself. His own tiredness now a distant memory, John was more than ready to serve his wife.

His hands sought out her core, teeth nibbling gently against her neck. Again she stopped him though, her hand halting his wrist. "But, Anna, I don't want to hurt you," John spoke, his breath coming in soft pants.

"I'm ready for you, my love…" she breathed. "I _always_ am."

John let out a noise that he was quite sure he had never made before. "Christ, Anna. This will be over before we begin if you keep saying things like that."

Anna craned her neck backwards to give him room to roam with his lips, this act never failing to make her sense swim and toes curl. "Mmm, things like what, my love?" Anna moaned as John sucked determinedly at the base of her throat.

She searched silently for more ways to tease and delight him. "Things such as how it frustrates me so madly that this wonderful hair is hidden from me whilst we are at the house." Anna's hand wandered under his crisp shirt and undershirt to caress the soft hair of his stomach. She then changed tact and scratched her nails lightly over his torso. "Sometimes I day dream about pulling you into the larder and doing that." She felt herself blush slightly at her own brazen words, true though they may be. However, the passionate grunts emanating from her husband and the forceful rub of his arousal against her thigh drove her on. "And sometimes this too." Her hand wandered down to cup him firmly, his eyes coming to fall upon hers.

With no more words spoken, he brought their bodies together in one swift movement, settling upon a harsh pace that he would not be able to maintain for very long. Anna was trapped beneath him and could do little but touch, squeeze and caress what few parts of her husband she had access to. He was in complete control now, just as Anna had wished. John brought his lips to hers once more and his tongue began to tease and coax her with such ferocity that she felt like she was struggling to keep apace with the tidal wave of passion she had created. Still he drove into her time and time again and Anna wondered if it had ever felt this intense before, this mind altering.

Feeling sparks of bliss begin to take hold, Anna moved her lips from his, biting down lightly on his shoulder before speaking. "I'm so close, darling. You're making me feel too good."

"Nearly…" John exhaled. He changed his angle slightly and maintained his deep strokes. His forehead fell to rest against Anna's then, a few of his more unruly locks having come loose, much to Anna's delight. The sight of his ultimate determination to see her come undone before him, to last long enough for her despite her teasing, pushed Anna over the edge. The scream that signalled her climax felt as if it were yanked from her.

Moments later, her legs hooked around his waist, her heels digging into his still clothed rear end. "Let it come now, love…. So good."

John's body gave out then, his arms no longer willing to support him. With a final deep stroke, he reached his own release with a long moan. For a few minutes they stayed as they were before John rolled over and they lay on their backs side by side.

"I'm quite sure that I'm dead," John breathed, a sly smile on his lips.

Anna giggled, rolling onto her side to take in his delicious expression. "That was wonderful, Mr Bates. And if there's ever anything that I can do for you, please do not hesitate to ask…" She kissed his neck, savouring his scent and the taste of his exertion.

"Well, there may be something…" John spoke in a serious tone.

"Yes?" She rose up onto her elbow, unsure of what was coming next.

"You could help me out of these clothes, Anna... because I don't think I can move another muscle."


End file.
